I have been banged up before... but you only get one shot at something like this

STARS DWAYNE JOHNSON AND EMILY BLUNT DISCUSS GOING THROUGH THE PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL WRINGER TO TELL THE STORY OF A UFC LEGEND.

- BY YOLANTHE FAWEHINMI

BACK in the 1990s, when film star Dwayne Johnson was still best known as wrestler The Rock, he would bump into the man he is now playing on screen - UFC legend Mark Kerr.

“There was convergence between professional wrestling and MMA through Japan and the United States, and a lot of wrestlers would try their hands at MMA while a lot of MMA fighters would try their hands at professional wrestling,” says 53-year-old Dwayne.

“As wrestlers, there were different cities we would go into and find the MMA guys performing in the same venues on different nights. We found ourselves all working out in the same gyms.

“In a way, it truly was the Wild West - some of these guys were fighting multiple times in one night, no holds barred, no rules, for little money. You had to just try to survive in the ring to win a couple of hundred bucks.”

The world-famous WWE wrestler was also at a crossroads in his career at this time. He had suffered injuries and was beginning to wonder if he still belonged in the ring.

He made his acting debut in 2001 with The Mummy Returns and has since forged a career as one of Hollywood's most bankable stars.

The Smashing Machine sees him come full circle to tell the story of Mark’s life and career.

The biographical sports drama written, directed, co-produced, and edited by American filmmaker and actor Benny Safdie follows Mark at the height of his career, dominating the Japanese Pride Fighting Championships.